What do you do to flatten stomach

[PrincessOfPreschool]

I'm in the process of losing weight but my tummy still sticks out. Unfortunately it all comes off my bobs and bum, which are the last places I want it to come off.

Are there are any good exercises? Massage for excess skin? I dunno. It's just a bit demotivating to lose weight but still have a pretty big belly with skinny little legs and bum.

As a typical apple shape, I found the same.
I lost the belly eventually, but had to get down to the bottom of my BMI range for it to go.

Cutting carbs helps me. I work with a personal trainer too but I think it’s diet over exercise.

Unfortunely you cant pick where the weight comes off and the stomach is usually the last place it comes off. You can however build muscles and this can help with the weight loss in your stomach

I also find cutting carbs (in particular pasta) helps to reduce bloat which makes your stomach look flatter.

I agree it’s predominantly carbs that cause the issues! Exercise also really important for firming and toning

Cutting out sugar flattens my stomach

I stopped eating (so much) bread. It made a massive difference to how bloated I was.

I feel your pain,iv gone from a size 14 to a 10 but the stomach still remains,if I lose more weight I will look to thin.

Unfortunately losing weight doesn't change our shape necessarily. You can't choose where your body stores fat, and if it goes from your stomach last, you might find you have to lose more weight than you're comfortable with elsewhere before that changes.
You can influence your shape by building muscle, though unfortunately nothing you can really do about your bust, that's genetics. However if you add some muscle to your arms/legs/shoulders it can change your proportions and mean you look slimmer, even though you might be the same size or even a bit bigger.

Oh Lordy, that's a long haul. I'm v small boned.

Thanks. This is good advice. My son is a fitness freak. I'll ask him how to do my bum and shoulders.

@ those suggesting carbs and sugar. I've key much cut them out completely which is obviously working to lose weight generally but not belly fat. Not really bloated but I do have so much loose fat on my belly which looks like belly bingo wings.

Planks. Pilates.
Plank (exercise) - Wikipedia

Thanks. Can you do this with a diastasis recti?

Not recommended - nor are the usual situp/crunches. This is quite a good work out though https://getmomstrong.com/blog/diastasis-recti-exercises/
Exercising safely will tone up the core muscles and as the fat falls away you will look a lot more toned.

Oooh brilliant. Thanks so much @Londonmummy66

@Londonmummy66 ,To be fair, OP hadn't mentioned diastasis recti when I posted.

Definitely planks and Pilates. My stomach has never been as flat as when I did Pilates regularly.

I thought my lower belly was always gonna be like that (3 sections)
but recently tried an exercise I got from a YouTube workout, so you lay on your back and arms flat on floor aimed down.
Then lift your legs up and curl them over your head, keeping them straight, then back down. I do 20 a day and it’s really made a difference to my pooch

Yes, Pilates, with a proper teacher who understands diastases recti. My BMI is still 28 (was 34) but my waist and stomach have never looked better after doing Pilates for about 6 months ( saw some improvement much quicker than that though). Bonus it has also lifted my bum a bit!

how do you curl your legs over? Thanks!

@CookingFatCat , I think pp meant something like this:
Leg lifts

Like this but I don’t get my feet all the way to the floor behind my head, probably half way and then back. Just as long as you feel that lower belly crunch! It’s made such a difference, they are easy (and I hate exercise 🤣)

https://pebbles.me/blogs/pilates-exercises/how-to-do-the-roll-over-pilates-exercise

That’s it, just go back a bit further with the legs so it crunches the tummy more.

This is visceral fat. The link gives lots of good information. https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/how-to-reduce-visceral-body-fat-hidden-fat